


buzzcut season

by written_you_down



Category: Bastille (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24190903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/written_you_down/pseuds/written_you_down
Summary: Three times Dan shaves his head.
Relationships: Kyle Simmons/Dan Smith
Comments: 8
Kudos: 40





	buzzcut season

The first time Dan shaves his head, he fucks it right up. 

It’s not a colossal fuckup, he’s able to move down hallways, pass people and no one says anything. No one freaks out, traffic doesn’t grind to a stop. He’s in a hurry because he’s late, there’s a thing before the show and he thought he left enough time to get everything done. In the end, he had to rush the hair cut. He honestly thought he’d done a thorough job, but there was no more time for a proper inspection. So it’s possible that it’s simply because he’s moving too quickly that no one can spot the damage. It isn’t until he notices Kyle staring, rather intently, at the side of his head that he gets a bit anxious. “Dan,” Kyle starts slowly and moves closer to inspect his hair. “What have you done?”

“I might have shaved it. Is it—“

“It’s uneven. Like you may actually have to take a razor to it to even it up.” He shook his head slightly as he backed away. “There’s no time to fix it now. You really shouldn’t do a fan meet with bits of your scalp showing.” He watched as Dan flushed and his face fell a bit. “Look, there’s some time before the gig. I’ll help right it, after sound check. For now let’s just…. find a cap.”

—

The second time Dan shaves his head, it’s really a rescue mission. 

Kyle grabbed him by the elbow almost immediately after the sound check and they head to the bus, in search of the clippers. Once in hand, they find themselves in a dressing room. The venue is a theater and the backstage is posh. It has red lush carpeting and mirrors for days. Kyle all but deposits Dan in a chair and rather than stare at his own reflection, Dan surveys the room. It’s much more suited for opening nights, costume changes and, bouquets than it is for damage control on his idiot head. It seems fitting that he feels fairly chastised when Kyle drapes a towel over his shoulders, making him feel all of six years of age. 

Kyle moves in front of the mirror, facing him and sits on the counter. He lowers his gaze and comes nearer to see what Dan has done. He’s close enough that Dan feels Kyle’s breath on his ear and Dan puts on what he hopes is a nonchalant expression. He darts a glance up at Kyle and finds Kyle hesitating, hands in the air, before asking Dan “can I?” 

“Can you what?” Dan isn’t being dense on purpose, he really isn’t. It’s just that it’s difficult to think in a direct line at the moment and he has to be so very careful here. 

“Well. Touch you…. your head, your face. It’ll be a bit difficult to do this otherwise.” 

Dan doubts that it’s possible to prevent a blush from forming just from sheer effort, but he’s determined to give it a go nonetheless. “Right. Yes. Of course,” he manages. Christ. Why doesn’t he just throw Kyle a fucking please-feel-free-to-touch-me-anytime parade? It’s possible that an actual spectacle would be a shade less obvious. 

Kyle, being Kyle, takes it in stride. He places a hand under Dan’s chin in order to tilt his face easily and his other hand glides gently over the side of Dan’s head. “Why didn’t you come find me before you did this? It’s not as if you haven’t cut my hair before.”

Dan tries with great difficulty not to think of the times he’s cut Kyle’s hair. How it felt running his hands over his head, how soft Kyle’s hair was, how Kyle was never wearing a shirt on those occasions. He saved those memories for when he needed them —when it was late, when it was dark, when he was lonely. Now was most decidedly not the time to pursue that train of thought. Not when Kyle was so close and not when he had a fucking towel around his neck, completely covered up in layers. Not when he was unable to be as comfortable with his own body as Kyle apparently was with his around him. Not when it seemed to matter so much more to him than it did to Kyle. No. Now was definitely not the time for any of that. The noise and the chatter in his head are endlessly loud. He doesn’t say any of those of things. Instead all he can offer is “It seemed simple enough. I thought I could finish it this afternoon, but then I lost track of time…”

Kyle laughs. “You’re consistent with your time management skills, I’ll give you that.” He reaches back and palms the clippers, taking a moment to adjust it. “It looks as if we’ve got to use the 1 guard to even it. But it’ll take you a bit to grow it out enough to actually need another cut. So, yeah.”

Dan suddenly has a mental picture of himself in front of a crowd, stage lights reflecting merrily off the top of his bald head and grimaces. He can only hope that there’s a slight chance the image will deflect attention away from the truly atrocious dancing he does each show. Kyle jars him back to the present when he places his hand back under Dan’s chin. “You’ll help me with it next time I need to cut it?” he asks.

“Absolutely.” Kyle seems to be considering which way he’s going to begin his work. He’s studying Dan now, looking for what, Dan can’t begin fathom. Whatever it is that Kyle’s thinking, he’s giving it some effort. Though Kyle is known to blurt out any random observation that crosses his mind, it still seems to come out of nowhere when Kyle says “your jawline is ridiculous, you know that right?”

“Sorry, it’s… what?”

“Like movie star ridiculous. It really isn’t fair, you know?”

Dan doesn’t know. 

Before he can form a question, or even a thought, it’s overcome by the noise of the clippers as Kyle sets to shaving his head. Dan realizes there’s not even a remote chance that a shave that short will look good on him, but he’s already decided it’s the best hair cut he’s ever had.  
—

The third time Dan shaves his head, Kyle doesn’t wait for permission to touch him.

He and Kyle are in the bathroom of a hotel room. He’s perched on the ledge of a tub which is in no way comfortable but he doesn’t dare move. Kyle is close as he focuses on the task at hand. Dan tries not to stare, but he finds it difficult to look away. Dan’s thoughts buzz noisily around in his mind in a manner similar to the sound of the clippers which fill the small room. 

It’s been a fortnight since the last time Kyle shaved his head and things are exactly the same except in one way —Kyle doesn’t ask if he can touch Dan’s face. Now Kyle touches him all the time. Frequently. So much so that Dan is sure that he isn’t imagining it. Dan can recall each time in the past two weeks that Kyle has touched him. When Kyle has rubbed a hand across the top of Dan’s neck or along the side of his head. There’s no regularity to it and it almost seems to occur without thought. The only consistency is Dan’s reactions which he worries are telegraphed to everyone in the general vicinity of the room. It’s mortifying and wonderful all at once. Dan has no idea if Kyle means anything by it or not. Kyle has always been one to reach out, to embrace, but this, this seems different. It wasn’t there before and now it is. 

Kyle thumbs a button on the clippers and the noise instantly stops. “You know,” he muses, “there are entire instagram accounts dedicated to your hair. It almost seems, I don’t know, sacrilegious to take part in its removal.”

Dan, unable to shake his head, has to settle for an undignified snort. “It’s just hair.”

Kyle smiles and meets his eyes briefly. “If you say so. But the internet says otherwise.” 

“Wh-, What do you say?” Dan asks in what he hopes is a completely take it or leave it causal sort of tone. “Do you like it better one way or the other?” He watched as Kyle paused and then moved to sit beside him. He looked thoughtful, as if he were actually considering his answer. 

“I like you like this.”

Dan almost wished the clippers were making their racket again, so worried was he that he wasn’t breathing in and out at a normal, calm, completely appropriate way. “So. Shaved.”

“Or not. I like you however you are.” Kyle lightly shrugged one shoulder and glanced at Dan. “Like this.”

Kyle is already close, but Dan inches closer and Kyle doesn’t back away. He simply stares at Dan and asks “Can I…..?” Dan nods his head slightly in agreement which seems to make Kyle smile. “But don’t you want to know what I’m asking you for?’

Dan’s heart is making a fuss, thumping off beat in his chest, threatening to make a spectacle, to start up that damn parade again. He takes a moment to close his eyes and then open them, to look at Kyle, to be honest with him. “It doesn’t matter. You can do whatever you want with me.” 

Kyle’s smile changes into something softer as he moves forward and presses his lips to Dan’s. Everything crashes inside Dan’s head as he returns Kyle’s kiss. He feels as if he’s marching down a street, the grand marshal leading the fucking please-feel-free-to-touch-me-anytime parade. 

And for once, Dan is happy to surrender to the noise in his head.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to Juli for the proof (& support)


End file.
